Egypt receives offers from Russia, Venezuela and Iran to replace Saudi oil

Egypt has been offered refined oil products for October from foreign suppliers after Saudi’s oil giant Aramco terminated the delivery of 700,000 tonnes expected for this month, the petroleum ministry announced yesterday.

The surprise move is seen as de-escalation in relations between Saudi and Egypt after Cairo voting in favour of a Russian-drafted resolution in Syria, which Saudi Arabia strongly opposed. Saudi had supported a French draft bill, vetoed by Moscow, that demanded an end to airstrikes on opposition-held areas of Aleppo.

“The Saudi Aramco company verbally informed the General Petroleum Corporation earlier this month that it would halt its supplies for October, without offering any reasons,” ministry spokesman Hamdy Abdel Aziz said to AFP.

Abdel Aziz insisted that Aramco’s decision was unrelated to the Security Council vote and confirmed that the decision was reached before the vote.

“Aramco told us about the issue before the Security Council meeting. This is a commercial issue and not political. It is normal for some shipments to be late,” he added.

Aramco ships around 40 per cent of the refined oil products Egypt imports. The foreign suppliers that are looking to replace Saudi are Russia, Venezuela and Iran.